Ingredients Slayer

Male lions don’t lead the pack. The power lies in the females — and as with many points in history — peace tends to pervade during this matriarchy. The lionesses are the hunters and the social guides; a mirror to Team Lyan. We have always had a curiosity to find new ingredients, and an ability to make these unusual, alien and outright weird forms more delicious.

In an embrace of the alternative, these key ingredients are at the heart of Lyan—ess. Some we’ve worked on with likeminded people within and outwith the booze world and others are the result of the research, exploration and experimentation of the team. So our menu is sectioned around ingredients instead of cocktails; follow the suggestions or have one of us guide you to another cocktail made with one of these wondrous ingredients.

Infinite BananaPurple PineappleKing Monkey NutONYXAromatised Milk WineOld Fashioned Whisky

Ultra Raspberry

Ingredients

Infinite Ban —ana

£2—10ml Taster —Boozeless

We all know the ubiquitous foam banana smell, but isoamyl acetate (the ester that gives that characteristic “banana” taste) is a cheat’s fix to all things generic banana that dominates all the boozy expressions of this wonder fruit. We were frustrated by the flat profile of commercial banana products, so sought to explore the range of flavours they could express. “Banana” in many places in the world means very little as there are over 1000 cultivars, but we rely on the rather mundane ‘Cavendish’ variety.

But that’s not to say they can’t be remarkable. Containing complex starches and some protein, they are prime for undergoing Maillard reactions (the cooking transformations that makes your

steak [or pastry etc.] golden and delicious). Through this process, we enrich and cure the banana creating the full spectrum of tropical flavours. This technique is also applied to the skins, and through a second cure to the flesh — these are composed together in a solera system for layering complex banana notes — from rich to heady. Banana goodness beyond the candied notes.

Double Pain —killer£13.5

Boozeless:

A botanically led take on the Tiki staple – with just the right tropical underpinning.

Tropical Mart —inez £13

Stirred, aromatic, both heady and herbal — with just the right roundness for this gin classic.

A deeper take on the bittersweet pre—dinner drink. Ideal for something complex & dry.

Cav— endish Ameri—cano£14

Purple Pine—apple

£2—10ml Taster —Boozeless

The pineapple, since its heady position at the height of Victorian perviness, through to its grandeur as the ‘Queen of Fruits’ and as a symbol of hospitality, has become somewhat mundane. Protein rich, it is an able cocktail emulsifier, and through cultivation, has become an easy tropical note to many a concoction. But we wanted to restore its glamour, and its complexity that sent fruit hunters into a hedonistic frenzy to overcome its enzymatic, flesh—eating qualities to get at that luscious aroma. Deconstructed, stretched, manipulated and massaged, we want to explore the full spectrum of this royal fruit — including the fleeting floral, ‘purple’ aromas so celebrated in its history. Without adulterating its

heart, we add accents of smoke, citrus (especially bergamot), tannin, florality (without tasting perfumed), herbality and golden sweetness — none overt, but enough to make the pineapple hedonistic, exotic and magnificent in a way it had forgotten.

Bright and fresh, with the luscious richness of pineapple to lift the bubbles.

White Sbag—liato£13.5

An ideal opener. Citrussy and bright without masking the spice of the Scotch.

Morn —ing Glory Fizz £13.5

Clean, dry and uplifting. Way better than your go—to highball.

Pre —lude£13.5

Boozeless:

King Mon—key Nut

£2—10ml Taster —Boozeless

Nuts have been a key aspect of classic cocktail formulae for quite some time, and their role in dairy alternatives in the modern world have put pressure on farmers across the world. Rich in fats and proteins, they give great body to a drink or dish. These fats are often not contributing a huge amount to our cocktails though — the flavour of the nuts usually bolstered by an additional component such as orange blossom — and the fats simply coating your palate, and your glass.

By transforming these constituents — through controlled exposure to oxidation, that’s often detrimental to the flavour — we are able to have a set of flavours that is at once both deep and rich, and light and elegant. Parmesan,

and jasmine, are notable examples — both registering volumes of aromatics we find repulsive, but composed into something that is on a whole, wonderful and attractive. We’ve long been fans of having ingredients that don’t reveal everything at once — a substrata effect of flavours, or something you can’t quite put your finger on — that becomes more appealing. This dichotomy of pleasure/pain is at the heart of many revered foods, and we’re excited to elevate the humble peanut to such lofty heights. Nuts so often are ‘basic’ snacks, but we’re excited to showcase something beyond their everyday, or historic, role to have something much more complex, exciting and fleeting.

A richer, spicier Daiquiri variant that laces the rum classic with extra citrus and nuttiness.

Royal Berm —uda Yacht Club£13

Boozeless:

A nod to the richer origins of this Classic. At once both fresh and indulgent.

Air—mail£13.5

Retaining complexity for a lighter style serve, underpinned by the richer finish.

KingSpr—itz£13.5

Boozeless:

ON —YX

£2—10ml Taster —Boozy

We love working with kindred spirits; the beauty of collaboration creates exciting new ground. Empirical Spirits out of Copenhagen have tried to buck the confines of flavour exploration within the traditional spirit worlds by calling on their backgrounds at the forefront of food R&D. Our collab product channels this shared ethos of excitement around flavour without disrespecting the traditions it challenges. The two pillars we looked to explore were the precursors of flavours — how can you create flavours before producing alcohol — and different ways of manipulating familiar flavours through transformation. Based on Helena — itself a wholly unique take on Western booze — we tried to explore different ways of kicking off the origins of flavour. Instead of using koji as (only) a transformative organism, we have used it as a botanical. By blackening the koji (akin to the slow development of flavours through maillard transformations in ‘black garlic’) we were able to create heavy roasted notes, alongside vegetal spicy notes. But distilling this, we were able to capture a coastal—style salinity, and an orchard—fruit richness. Similarly, we wanted to look at how we could

manipulate something familiar to the world of fine spirits, but create a unique take on it. For this, we took Helena long–aged with American Maple Wood. Drawing out lots of heavy flavours, it also had taken on a dark, resinous, heavily tannic body. To counteract this, we then distilled the product — using the wood as a botanical instead as a textural/colour agent. This still captured the aromatics of the wood, but in a concentrated manner, that pleasantly confused the palate in absence of the richer grip and tannins.

To round this out, we have balanced some of the aromatics and textural balance with a hibiscus, and a birch–wood kombucha. Again a way of creating flavour that doesn’t rely on alcoholic fermentation, the kombucha transforms the hibiscus and the birch into a fruity, waxy style sweetness. Purposefully left full for residual sweetness and body, the blending of this into the wood and blackened–koji distillates gave us a full and complex product with enough versatility to be approachable in a variety of contexts. The final addition of some ‘seasoning’ of some equinox hops gave a substrata note of bitterness and tropical aromatics that helped bridge together the flavours.

Bright and spicy — a fizz with the koji fruitiness brought to the fore.

Pea—chBlowFizz£14

Grassy and clean, with a perfect background of herbal sweetness.

Rosa Daiq—uiri £13

A Collins with enough complexity to unfold with layers of flavour as it dilutes.

YES CH—EF£13.5

£2—10ml Taster —Boozeless

Arom—atised Milk Wine

Milk is a fascinating product — in a natural form, a hydrocolloid suspension of fats, sugars and proteins in water. We’ve manipulated this through parallel preservation techniques to explore how these components can be expanded to change their flavours, textures and lifespans; nodding to the sour milks of the world (see excellent versions in Turkey, Finland and Tanzania), the childhood nostalgia of fruit yoghurts (Petit Filous ftw) and the complexities of the world’s fine cheeses. But we wanted to remove the fattiness from our drinks; the depth and complexity of milk and milk products but without the heavy coating dairy effect.

We also wanted to use this textural, aromatic bed for a

complex mix of flavours that could form the backbone of several drinks. Taking cues from vermouths and the categories of aromatised wines, we built in layers of flavour to this creamy, sour base and married it with the freshness of a non–alcoholic wine. By using the grape tartness, we’ve been able to create a fruity base on which the soured milk can build. It nods to the aromatics of dairy, without any of the coating, heavy qualities, and gives a unique set of flavours to develop boozeless and boozy drinks alike.

Smoky and complex — a lively, crisp and bright sour.

Progre—ssivePend —ennisClub£13

Snappy with a herbaceous spice and long finish.

Silver Bul—let £13.5

Stirred and rich, lifting the sweeter spice from the longer–aged rum.

Hiya Trea—cle £13.5

Boozeless:

Old Fash—ioned Whisky £2—10ml Taster —Boozy

John et al have been friends of the Lyan camp for some 10 years and counting. Brought together by a love of how whisky helped bring together great company and great conversation, and a love to challenge the conservative ‘definitions’ of how this could be done, we are honoured to finally have a fruit of that kinship.

The Compass Box Whiskies have pushed the boundaries of aged spirits, and have shown the beauty, elegance and complexity that can come through respect for your materials, a passion to reinvent and a knowledge drawn from a wide experience base show how blending can create a sum greater than the sum of its parts. Mirroring this, our definition of a cocktail, it made sense to nod

to one of the hallowed cocktail bases, the “Old Fashioned”. Using deeply toasted bespoke casks to add in grip depth and tannin, we matched the honeyed sweet notes of first fill grain whisky, as well as waxy, citrussy bright malts from the Highlands. It’s a whisky that is a cocktail in and of itself. Complex, layered, and changing across the journey as you enjoy it with your company (including your own), it will give a new take on what whisky can be about. Delicious and accessible, it also works as the backbone to many serves — traditional to whisky and not — and demonstrates the sheer diversity available from the simple components of cereal and wood.

Rich, stirred and boozy.

Ru—styNail£13.5

Clean, and complex — a dry Scotch & Soda with layers of spice, fruit and honey notes.

High—ball£13

A bright whisky sour with a green fruitiness to keep it clean.

Whi—skySmash£13.5

£2—10ml Taster —Boozy

Ultra Rasp—berry

The finest berry — no contest — but what can be done to elevate the commercial varieties we’re faced with now? Those fruits grown with good conscience to meet demand might sacrifice some of their deliciousness, but by delving into their nature, we were keen to regain their status in the highest cocktail echelons.

Raspberries also share a lot of characteristics with more savoury cousins (notably tomatoes), and by exploring synergistic and complementary components, we are able to dial up the raspberry.

We’re fans of dissecting ingredients (not only by delving into their biology as per our Dandelyan days) and by systematically drawing out ingredients, we’re able to play to their idiosyncrasies — rather

than to use them generically. So with the commercial raspberries we get, we have been building on their heritage, but also analysing their composition to try and find ways to dial up the flavours we love, to find anachronistic accents, to find opposing materials to bolster and to explore complementary notes that elevate beyond the current humble raspberry.

This allows us to also pour that raspberry goodness into settings where it might have been too sweet, or to allow this Ultra Raspberry to sit a little in the background, and bring more complexity than simply a base ‘fruity’ note. Raspberry, but not as you know it!

Rich, stirred and comforting. The Manhattan you didn’t know you needed.

Quee —nieHarvard£14

Boozeless:

Clean, full and fruity — with a grassy, vegetal backbone to stop it being cloying.

Snap Cra—ckle Bellini £13

Rich, spicy and bright.

Whi—skySourz£13.5

Boozeless:

A comparative guide to taste (light vs rich) & suggested drinking times (daytime to late evening)

Drinks Map

Whisky Smash

YES CHEF

Snap, Crackle Bellini

Cavendish Americano

King Spritz

White Sbagliato

Prelude Highball

Silver Bullet

Peach Blow Fizz

MorningGlory Fizz

= Boozeless available

Rosa Daiquiri

Progressive Pendennis

Club

Tropical Martinez

Airmail

Queenie Harvard

Royal Bermuda

Yacht Club

Double Painkiller

Rusty Nail

Whisky Sourz

Hiya Treacle

Allergy Information —For food allergies and intolerances, please speak to a member of our team about your requirements before ordering.

A full list of all allergens contained in each drink is available upon request. We craft our cocktails in house, and use a variety of ingredients to create the complexity of our serves which may mean certain ingredients are not listed.

Prices —All prices are in £ and inclusive of VAT at the current prevailing rate. Please note that a discretionary service charge of 12.5% will be added to your bill.

Please ask if you would like a copy of our menu to take with you. @Lyanessbar @MrLyan #Lyanesswww.lyaness.com